Chapter 9 (AIAG)
Review Responses: kitten198485: Thank you, I will. doctor of supreme awesomeness: Well, the story is pre-written, I prefer to write it all in one setting to avoid ret-cons. Also, you have an awesome name! anarion87: Thank you. keyblademeister88: Glad you're liking it. I'm working on chapter four of my HP/SW story currently. harvald: First, let me say thank you. In the Christmas section, where Harry received the Firebolt like in Canon, Hermione informed McGonagall, despite the fact that Harry had tested the broom himself and had been riding it. Harry had hoped to use her for sex, to deprive Ron of something else he wanted, but realized that he wouldn't be able to tolerate her long enough to do that and he wasn't all that fond her annoying personality traits either. As such, he just threw her away and moved on. It was sudden, and covered in the narration, if I remember correctly. Charles Ceaser: Thank you. Gime'SS: You're welcome. Mari Wollsch: Thank you, I generally try to update everyday. EP: Thank you. October 30th, 1994. September and October were both great months for Harry and he was pleased that his life was now much better. Granger was expelled and Obliviated, with her magical bound. Secretly, Harry had also made her a squib with a curse from the Emrys Grimoire, and had kept her wand as trophy for his accomplishment. Harry mastered his powers over the Fire Element, to Nicolas Flamel's shock, and Harry had invested massive amounts of effort into doing so and had earned Nicolas' respect in the process. That wasn't all Harry had achieved, he finally mastered all mid-level Alchemy during Time Compression training with Salazar. Harry had also begun training in his Storm Elemental powers with Morgana and was still frequently shagging her as much as he could. Harry's progression towards his Potions Mastery had continued, with Professor Slughorn receiving favorable replies in regard to his skill-level from the Potions Master Guild, and Harry was reassured by Slughorn that he would atleast be a Potions Master by age fifteen; three years before Snape achieved his Mastery. Harry was eager to collect his first official Mastery. The downside of having ruined his relationship with McGonagall was that his Transfiguration lessons were quite unpleasant for him and Harry was actually considering taking his OWLs and NEWTs in the subject early. McGonagall followed the Albus Dumbledore policy on criminal acts and believed that Harry should have given Granger a lighter punishment and a second chance, which Harry found idiotic. Assault was a severe crime and Granger knew that, so she couldn't just plead ignorance, and she didn't deserve mercy. Plus, Harry wanted her gone anyway, and it was only a matter of time until she expanded her purview to all of Magical Britain and then tried 'fixing' it into a copy of the Muggle world. It was finally the day the foreign delegations would arrive and Harry was waiting for them to arrive outside, with his fellow students. It was nearly six now and Harry was getting impatient. Everyone was speculating on how they would arrive and annoying Harry greatly with their inane chatter and uninformed guesses. Harry just began mentally planning out his training and studying schedule with the goal of becoming a Mage before age fifteen. Minutes later, and Harry was disturbed from his thoughts of amassing immense power and skill, by the Headmistress speaking. "There the Beauxbatons delegation is!" She said, pointing for everyone's convenience so they they could all get the full experience of watching their entrance. "It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely. "No, it's not!" the Headmistress said in exasperation, amusing several older students. A gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant. The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed - then, with an almighty crash that made a few people jump backward onto peoples feet, the horses' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes. A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully. Then Harry saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage - a shoe the size of a child's sled - followed, almost immediately, by the largest woman he had ever seen in his life. The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained. A few people gasped. Harry, however, instantly identified her as a half-giant like Hagrid. "Welcome, Madame Maxime," Augusta said with genuine politeness. "Thank you, Augusta," the now named Madame Maxime said graciously. The students of Beauxbatons began silently exiting the carriage, there were roughly about a dozen, all in their late teens, and all shivering. "My pupils," she said, gesturing to the students. "'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" "He should be here at any moment," Augusta said, not hiding her displeasure of having such a disgusting and cowardly person in her school. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you rather warm up inside?" "Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But ze 'orses -" "Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will tend to them and we already have someone strong enough and with plenty of single-malt whiskey on hand." Augusta said to ease her mind, Madame Maxime nodded gratefully and bidded her students to come as she led them inside the castle. Thankfully once the Durmstrang delegation arrived, that went quicker, due to Augusta's disdain of Death Eaters, and Karkaroff seemingly pampering his star pupil and wanting him out of the cold, which was fine with everyone else. They were all eager to get out of the cold too. Harry opted to just tune out all of the obsessing over Krum, finding it all quite annoying. The only mildly amusing part of the ordeal is when the Beauxbatons students leapt to their feet when Madame Maxime entered and they didn't sit down until Madame Maxime sat down on Augusta's left side and near Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel, who were both invited as guests by the Headmistress, Deputy Headmaster, and Harry himself. Augusta remained standing, about to make an announcement. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and guests," Augusta said politely. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable." One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh. Augusta chose to ignore the appalling behavior and continued. "The tournament will be officially opened after the feast," Augusta said. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" She sat down, and Harry watched as Karkaroff leant forward at once and engaged her in conversation, much to her annoyance. "Any plans this year, Harry?" Neville asked, while he and Harry loaded their plates. "Continuing my studies and training with the intention of becoming a Mage, so that I can join the Mage Guild. Becoming a member at age fifteen would be quite the achievement for me. Yourself?" "I'll continue my studies, of course, but I doubt I will be a member of the Mage Guild until I'm twenty-five or older." Neville said. "You could probably hold your own there with your family magic, battle magic, and great skill in Transfiguration. At least among the younger members. I'm aiming for a seat at the grown-up table though; it will push me to my limits more and drive my power and skill to even greater heights. Have you considered getting a summer tutor to acquire your OWLs and NEWTs quicker? And that would mean faster Masteries too. You could focus solely on one subject for three months..." "I'll think about it." "Getting one or two done earlier would be less stress for you during your OWL and NEWT years," Harry added, and the idea obviously greatly appealed to Neville, he got stressed quite easily still. Neville was still gaining confidence and was still growing in power and skill, and he now no longer needed Hermione or Harry's help in class. He had been improving at a steady rate and Harry had been helping him along where he could, but it wasn't truly needed. "I'll talk to my Gran about it. I'm sure she'll agree, she desperately wants another of her family in the Mage Guild." Neville replied. The remainder of the feast passed in silence for Harry, who contemplated abusing the Time Chamber to surpass Albus Dumbledore. "The moment has come," Augusta said, not smiling. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those of you who do not know them, Mr. Percival Weasley, Acting Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation" - there was a smattering of polite applause from three of the house tables, but Gryffindor clapped louder than they ever had- "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." Harry was glad that he had gotten Percy that chance to prove himself, and Percy was doing just that. Harry noticed that Bagman was given a much louder applause due to his fame, but merely rolled his eyes. Augusta continued, informing the Hall of the hard work Crouch, Bagman, and Percy had all done to make the tournament possible, and that Bagman and Weasley would be on the panel of judges. "The casket please, Mr Filch." Augusta finally said, and Filch brought it forward. "There will be three tasks spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways... their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and, of course, their ability to cope with danger." At her last word, there was absolute silence... "Each school shall have one champion, and they will be marked on how well they perform each of the tasks and the champion with the highest total points after the third task will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire." Augusta said, keeping things short and to the point. She drew her wand and magically removed the Goblet of Fire, placing it on top of the casket. "Anybody wishing to submit themselves as a champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," Augusta said. "You have twenty-four hours to do so. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will reveal it's choices of the most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be heavily warded and attempting to place anothers name will be viewed as a murder attempt... and you won't like the consequences." "As I have said before, the tournament is not to be entered lightly. Entering the tournament constitutes a binding magical contract, if you attempt to refuse to compete or cheat, you will lose your magic. People die in this tournament, quite a lot, actually; fifty-percent of the champions." Augusta said, causing several people to change their minds on entering. "You have all been sufficiently warned, so goodnight and you are all dismissed." Harry and Neville made sure to exit quickly, taking short cuts back Gryffindor Tower. 'Near dawn, the next morning...' Barty Crouch Jr. had finally bypassed the numerous wards! It took him nearly 85% of his own magic reserves and drawing upon the immense magical power of his master, but he had done it! Barty placed the name into the goblet and quickly retreated beneath an invisibility cloak before he was discovered. ------- Today was very productive for Harry, he had been studying wandless magic with Archmage Flamel for most of it. Harry was even informed that he had an aptitude for wandless magic by Nicolas, and had already progressed quite far. Harry's studying it with Remus Lupin had helped him comprehend the basics that enabled him to progress further and faster with Flamel... the man who taught Grindelwald much of his wandless magic and claimed that Harry could quickly come to rival him in that skill. Harry intended to invest much of his time in learning wandless magic, it was an invaluable skill to have and could drastically shift battles to his advantage. Thankfully, Nicolas was happy to teach Harry much of what he knew of the skill, and so was Perenelle, whom had become quite fond of Harry. The Triwizard Tournament had continued to annoy Harry greatly. So far, all of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students had entered their names, and most of them were lacking in magical power. Fleur Delacour, who's father was a second generation member of the Mage Guild, had power superior to Harry's, by a notable margin and was already a Mage. She was the exception to the rule and the only Mage entered, Diggory, Krum, Angelina Johnson, and Warrington were all above-average magically, but nothing to be impressed with. Harry would support any Hogwarts champion, but wouldn't get truly invested in the stupid tournament. Harry read his book on Post-NEWT Transfiguration while everyone else waited the remaining minute for the Goblet to finish up; indifferent to the tournament and it's tasks, which Harry had already discovered were all quite easy. And then Augusta dimmed the lights, causing Harry to cast a spell designed to provide light only to the caster, so that he could continue reading. Viktor Krum was chosen for Durmstrang and the applause annoyed Harry so much that he put up a personal silencing charm. Fleur Delacour was chosen for Beauxbatons, and Harry didn't care. His silencing charm blocked out all of the noise. Cedric Diggory was chosen for Hogwarts, and Harry merely turned a page in his book. Headmistress Longbottom gave a brief speech, incredibly pleased that this minor annoyance was moving along, but was distracted by the fire in the goblet turning red once more. She caught the parchment with Harry Potter's name on it, eyes widening in shock, and realized that the wards were bypassed and with the worst possible end result; her boss, who could fire her, had his name submitted and accepted. She unconsciously muttered his name, causing several people to become angry at and for Harry. Harry remained unaware and continued reading his book. Augusta walked over to him, dispelling his local silencing charm and cleared her throat nervously. "Lord Potter... It seems someone bypassed the wards Alexander and I erected..." Augusta nervously. Harry closed his book after an annoyed sigh. "And who bypassed them?" "We don't know. We only know that they put your name in." Augusta said nervously. "Contain the goblet for destruction and I will have my solicitors look into it and get me out of it." Harry replied, suppressing his anger well. Only his eyes conveyed his true intentions... The death of everyone involved on this attempt on his life and the destruction of all that they cared for and valued. Harry was tired of being crossed and would be making an example of all those that did from now on. "I will do exactly that, but you need to join the other champions until you can get out of it." Harry rose from his seat, palming the slip of paper with his name on it, and walked into the side chamber. No insults were directed his way, most had seen his surprise and everyone knew that he despised the stupid tournament. There were some unintelligent people who intended to cause trouble, but they would soon be put in their place. "What is it?" Fleur asked. "Do zey want us back in ze hall?" "No, someone put my name in as another attempt to kill me. I have to sit through this until my solicitors can review the contract and get me out of it." Harry replied boredly. "It shouldn't be too hard, whoever put my name in didn't know my full name." Bagman came in, grabbed Harry by the arm and was subject to a judo throw... He ended up on the floor and in pain. "Apologies, most people know not to grab me..." Harry said while Krum, Delacour, and Diggory laughed at Bagman. "And I have already informed them of my being entered, so if we could speed this up..." "Qui, 'e cannot compete. 'E is too young." Fleur said dismissively. "The tasks are easy, I'd die of boredom," Harry replied in annoyance. "Traditionally students aged fourteen could compete. If you were seeking a challenge then you should try curing vampirism or lycanthropy. A twelve year old won the Triwizard Tournament once, so it doesn't really give you much glory or respect. It's pretty much only good for the prize money and even that's not impressive." Of course Bagman tried to explain that there was no way out for Harry. "Well, if that's true, then I'll probably ruin your life and you'll end up homeless, starving on the street." Harry replied, with an annoyed look directed at Bagman, who looked horrified. "You do have a history of associating with Death Eaters, after all, maybe you were a secret supporter... Your also degenerate gambler who's massively indebt... Maybe they just offered you money." The door behind them opened again, and a large group of people came in: Headmistress Longbottom, Deputy Headmaster Greengrass, Percival Weasley, Madame Maxime, and Professor Karkaroff. "Madame Maxime!" said Fleur at once, striding over to her headmistress. "Zey are saying zat zis little boy is to compete also!" "There is no part of me that can be considered little, blondie, and I'm more than happy to show you." Harry said in annoyance mocking the silly girl and giving her an indecent proposal at the same time. She tried slapping Harry, but he easily caught it. "Wow! Those three years of age are murder on your speed, huh?" Harry asked mockingly. Longbottom and Greengrass both gave Harry a look, silently pleading for him to behave. "I witnessed the wards they were placing and felt the power behind them, there was no way he could have entered himself." Madame Maxime said, still angry at the Potter boy for his disrespect, but not willing to lie or withhold knowledge to damage his reputation. He had done a lot for part-humans in a very short time and he was too powerful to make an enemy of. "I must agree. The wards were clever and powerful, whoever broke them must have took the entire night to bypass them. It would have weakened them greatly, even if they were Mages like Augusta and Alexander." Karkaroff said. "And Potter is at near full strength, and is most likely the most powerful student in Hogwarts." Karkaroff added, to the shock of Diggory and Krum. Fleur already sensed his power, of course, but he wasn't a threat to her. She had more power than all the champions combined! "Now that all of that is said, can we just be told about the first task, so that I can go contact my solicitors?" Harry asked impatiently. Percy and Bagman nodded. "The first task is designed to test your daring," Percy told the champions, "so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard... very important..." Harry fought the urge to snort in derision. "The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges." "The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests and are not required to attend classes." Harry nodded impatiently and left the room, heading directly to somewhere private where he could disapparate to his solicitors office. ---- My Solicitors were totally and completely useless! A contract that lacked my full first name was considered and registered as legally binding! They promised to continue looking for loopholes but informed me to not get my hopes up! Harry raged... The dangerous look on his face promised pain to any who angered him in this state, and none were foolish enough to dare cross him. Harry entered Gryffindor Tower to quickly change clothes before retreating to the Chamber of Secrets. "Oh! Look! It's the Cheater-Who-Lived!" Ron Weasley said with a sneer, causing Neville Longbottom, Lavender Brown, and his brothers to look at him in shock for his idiotic behavior. "Oh look, it's someone so stupid that he had to repeat his third year." Harry replied mockingly, walking right past the magically weak and talentless trash. Ron attacked him from behind with a Blasting Curse, but Hogwarts erected a shield around Harry, and Harry quickly cut off Ron's arms and legs in a blur with the Sword of Gryffindor in retaliation; stopping the bleeding with medical magic. "That's attempted murder of a Lord of six Most Ancient and Noble Houses. Neville, please inform your grandmother that I want him expelled with his magic permanently bound. I'll be indisposed, my Solicitors were unable to get me out of the tournament, and I need to train, investigate, and plan." Neville nodded, shocked by the speed and ease with which he dealt with Ron Weasley. Harry went to his dorm to change. "We did tell him not to cross Harry Potter." Fred said, looking at his mutilated brother with indifference. Ron had brought this onto himself with his jealousy. "That we did, Fred." George replied. "Now our stupid brother was made an example of, like Malfoy was." "That's your brother, though," Seamus said, shocked by their responses. "Our brother was jealous, petty, lazy, and tried murdering someone in public. He went Dark and is the first Dark Weasley in several centuries." Fred replied. Meanwhile, Harry had changed clothes and was writing to the Daily Prophet and was ordering them to shift the blame onto Moody, McGonagall, and suggest or hint that they entered him under Dumbledore's orders. He informed them of Ron Weasley's actions and had denounced him as a Dark Wizard and would-be murderer. This would be going into the Prophet, but they would still investigate further and question people. That done, Harry sent it off with the nearby Hedwig, and went to the Chamber of Secrets... It was time to get stronger and more powerful, while Fleur Delacor did possess a notable power advantage, the concerning part was that she was actually stronger than all of the champions combined. To combat that, Harry intended to surpass her in power and the combined skill of the other three champions. He would spend as much time under Time Compression as he had too to achieve that. Harry entered the Chamber minutes later and was greeted by a pleased and smug looking portrait of Salazar Slytherin. "You seem happy," Harry said in observation. "You seem like you're about to lash out and kill people," Salazar returned with a smirk. "You remember the Triwizard Tournament that I complained about?" Salazar nodded, disliking the idiotic game that wasted magical blood. "My name was selected and I didn't even enter myself, and I am magically bound according to my Solicitors. It was registered properly, which implied they knew my true birth name of Hadrian, and that could mean Pettigrew was involved, even though he lacks the power or skill to enter me himself. This implies Tom is behind my entry." "All isn't lost, Hadrian, I recently finished my solution for your problem... You have a Horcrux within you, likely your scar, and I created a ritual that will destroy it and give you Tom's knowledge, skill, experience, and ritual benefits; but without any of the negatives from them. It's my greatest accomplishment and I did it while dead and portrait!" Salazar said, bragging. "Great! Let's do it!" Harry replied. "I also need to amass enough power to surpass all the other champions, which includes a seventeen year old Lady Mage. Was that your idea to modernize my Dark Arts Mastery?" "It was, but continuing your study of them wouldn't hurt. With the Time Chamber as a resource, you should be able to surpass them in power. You do have two massively draining Animagus forms to help with that." Salazar said, to which Harry nodded in agreement. "You will need to use the Ritual Room and I will guide you through the modified ritual," Salazar said, before going to his Ritual Room portrait, and leaving Harry to join him there a minute later. When he arrived, he was promptly ordered to draw an heptagram. When Harry finished, he began drawing the runes for the modified ritual: Kaunaz, Sowulo, Uruz, Eiwaz, Teiwaz, Dagaz, Mannaz, Othalan, and Thurisaz on each point. When Harry finished, he placed seven drops of blood at each point, and then healed himself. Salazar gave Harry a nod and Harry stood in the center of the ritual circle and spoke the incantation. "Potentiam, tuam accipio, ut mihi." Harry said calmly, with an undertone of nervousness. He felt foreign knowledge enter his mind, which expanded and ordered the knowledge. He felt his body absorb copies of Tom's skill and experience from the soul fragment. Finally, Harry felt an odd power, Parseltongue, flow into him and enhance his own. To his surprise, he also acquired a major power boost because of the copied ritual effects. His own strength, speed, durability, and regenerative powers grew even further. Harry barely made it outside the ritual circle before passing out. He awoke minutes later and had to quickly reassure his ancestor of his good health, and then scanned himself to confirm the soul fragments removal. "It's done. And I now have more horcruxes of his to target... And I now know why Tom targeted me all those years ago; a prophecy that claims I can defeat him. I'll need to recover and adapt to my newly increased power, but that should be easy for me. I need to craft a dueling style too, one that incorporates my strengths and exploits them to there fullest potential. I'll also want your advice during breaks... When someone slanders me, if they are potential future enemies, then I will destroy them. Allies will be paying me lots of money. I just need to do that in the most advantageous way." Harry said, to Salazar's approval. Disclaimer I make no claim to J.K Rowlings work.